1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of feeding radiation image storage panels utilizing a stimulable phosphor to a device for use in carrying out a radiation image recording and reproducing method which uses said panels.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is known that when certain phosphors are irradiated with a radiation such as X-rays, .alpha.-rays, .beta.-rays, .gamma.-rays, electron beam or ultraviolet rays, part of radiation energy is stored in the phosphors and subsequently the phosphors emit stimulated emission in proportion to the amount of the stored energy when irradiated with stimulating rays such as visible light. The phosphor having the above-described properties is called stimulable phosphor. There have been proposed in our co-pending Japanese patent provisional publication Nos. 55(1980)-12429, 56(1981)-11395, 55(1980)-163472, 56(1981)-104645 and 55(1980)-116340, radiation image recording and reproducing system wherein the radiation image of an object such as a human body is recorded on a radiation image storage panel (i.e., stimulable phosphor sheet) having a sheet-form stimulable phosphor layer by utilizing the above stimulable phosphor, said panel is scanned with stimulating rays such as laser beam to emit stimulated emission, the stimulated emission is photoelectrically read out to obtain signals of the image and the radiation image of the object is reproduced from the signals as a visible image on CRT or a recording material such as radiographic material.
The panel does not record finally the image information, but retains temporarily the image information to give an image the final recording medium. Radiation energy remaining on the panel after reading out stimulated emission can be released by exposing the panel to light or heat to erase the remaining radiation image from the panel. In this way, the panel can be repeatedly used. Such repeated application of the panel is very advantageous in an economical viewpoint.
In the above-described system, the panel is generally placed in a cassette kept in a light-shielded condition. After a radiation image is recorded, the panel placed in the cassette is placed in an image read-out device, and the panel is then taken out of the cassette and fed to a read-out section of the device.
In a conventional image read-out device, only one cassette can be place in a panel feed part thereof. Hence, when the read-out operation of image-recorded panels is to be successively performed, for instance, when the read-out operation of panels which have been successively recorded in a recording device is to be performed in sequence, there must be repeatedly performed an operation comprising placing a cassette containing an image-recorded panel in the panel feed part, releasing the panel from the cassette, taking the cassette out of the panel feed part after completion of the read-out, and subsequently placing in the panel feed part the next cassette containing an image-recorded panel. Thus, there are disadvantages that operators must stand by and wait for the next panel until the examination of the previous panel is completed, much time is required for replacing one cassette with another one and hence, the replacing operation is complicated and inefficient.
There is known an image read-out device wherein a stacker is provided between the panel feed part and the read-out section, each panel is taken out of each cassette and the panels are temporarily piled up to allow them to stand by. The panels must be taken out in order of arrival so that the mechanism of the stacker becomes complicated, cost increases and the size of the read-out device itself becomes larger. Further, the panels in the state of a pile are placed in the stacker. Thus, the panels are rubbed against each other so that the panel surfaces are sometimes damaged and the life of the panel is shortened.